CM Answers vs Discussion Board
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | CM Answers v3.4.3 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 3.8/5 Visit Details | Discussion Board v2.6.1 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.6/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 300+ | 1,000+ |
| Last updated | October 13, 2026 | October 23, 2026 |
| Editions | CM Answers · CM Answers Pro ($) | Discussion Board · Discussion Board Pro ($) |
| Pros | Question and answer threads with voting on answers; Shortcodes to embed the Q&A index and answers; BuddyPress integration for community sites | One-click setup creates the forum pages on activation; Front-end registration with email verification; Topic and reply notifications by email, with opt-out; Shortcodes place the forum on any page |
| Cons | Categories, difficulty levels and logs need the paid Pro edition; Free version shows upgrade prompts in several admin screens; Registration screen and uninstall survey contact the vendor | Registration approval and reCAPTCHA are Pro only; Free licence key is requested from the vendor site by email |
| Mentioned in our posts | 1 | 1 |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Question and answer threads with answers, Voting on answers, Shortcodes to embed the Q&A index and answers, Question categories (Pro, upgrade screen in free) ($), Difficulty levels (Pro, upgrade screen in free) ($), Reassign content between users (Pro, upgrade screen in free) ($), Logs screen (Pro, upgrade screen in free) ($) | Front-end new topic form, Front-end registration and login forms, Creates login, new topic and topic list pages, Pending user role for new registrations, Email notifications on new topics and replies, Notification opt-out for topic authors, Discussion topics custom post type |
| Integrations | ||
| — | Brevo mailing list (via wpdiscussionboard.com) | |
| Plugins | BuddyPress | — |
| Other | CreativeMinds registration API | Google reCAPTCHA ($) |
| Requires WordPress | 5.4.0 | 5.6 |
| Requires PHP | 5.4 | 7.4 |
| Tested up to | 7.0 | 7.1 |
| Phones home | Only if you agree | No |
| External services | www.cminds.com, www.paypal.com, fonts.googleapis.com | www.google.com, wpdiscussionboard.com |
| Shortcodes | 5 | 10 |